School is a significant part of all teens’ lives. It is where we grow, make friends, and develop skills we will use for the rest of our lives. Even as a student who complains about school constantly, admittedly I do see its purpose in our lives. However, schools push students to meet unachievable goals.
According to Fayette County Public Schools, students must always strive to be lifelong learners, collaborators, creative problem-solvers, future-ready, resilient, and productive citizens. Even though these are all positive things, it can be overwhelming for students to constantly strive for.
Students at Starr’s Mill are no exception to these expectations and impacts. Whether in sports, academics, or extra-curricular activities, Starr’s Mill students are always held to a high standard.
By doing this, students face immense pressure to be perfect in all aspects of their lives. The fear of letting down their school or failing to meet expectations set for them will cause their confidence and pride to rely on their overall performance.
Now, I understand why schools have the desire to push students to always exceed. Colleges demand more out of students than ever before, and schools just want students to reach their full potential.
However, this is no excuse.
School’s desire for their students to succeed blinds them from understanding what their students’ abilities are. Unfortunately, this is why hyper-fixation on having good grades and being a good athlete takes over students’ lives.
This ultimately leads to burn out, which is becoming more popular in this generation. Burnout is an issue that should not be normalized or mistaken for student laziness.
Schools should recognize that teenagers are still developing and will not be able to reach their full potential yet. For this reason, students should not always have to be excellent. By putting too much pressure on students, schools are doing more harm than good.
When excellence becomes the expectation, exhaustion becomes inevitable.
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